CounterVortex

Southern Cone

Argentina: protests over ‘disappeared’ activist

Tens of thousands of Argentines held protests across the country, demanding answers one month after the disappearance of an indigenous rights activist. Demonstrators held photos of Santiago Maldonado, who was last seen when border police evicted a group of indigenous Mapuche from lands in the southern Patagonia region. In Buenos Aires, protesters converged on the Plaza de Mayo, iconic for its role in the struggle to demand justice for the "disappeared" under the military dictatorship.

North America

Federal judge halts Texas anti-sanctuary law

A federal judge in San Antonio issued a preliminary injunction against most of SB4, the anti-Sanctuary Cities law that would have effectively forced every police agency in Texas to allow its officers to question the immigration status of anyone stopped for any reason. It would have also have forced agencies to send information on undocumented detainees to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Cuba Verde Revisited

Cuba became a living experiment in a post-petrol future for humanity after the collapse of the Soviet Union meant a cut-off of subsidized oil. This prompted a big push for self-sufficient and ecological models—bicycle transportation and urban farms in Havana,… Read moreCuba Verde Revisited

North America

Nazis in the streets: how do we react?

The violence in Berkeley has sparked divisions over how to confront the fast-rising radical right. One danger of advocating nonviolence is playing into the hands of the equivalists who blame both sides (or “many sides”) for the violence. On the other hand, the fact that equivalist propaganda will be used doesn’t give us a blank check to dismiss the whole discussion of astute tactics.

South Asia

South Asia: millions more ‘climate refugees’

With stateside media focused on the unprecedented flooding and cascading industrial disasters from Hurricane Harvey in Texas, the far great deluges that have struck three countries in South Asia are going largely unreported. Up to 40 million have been impacted after weeks of unusually strong monsoon rains affecting India, Bangladesh and Nepal—adding to the fast-growing ranks of "climate refugees," now a nearly invisible global crisis.

Syria

Syria: talks must address ‘disappeared’

International backers of negotiations to end the conflict in Syria should ensure that any transitional process includes a robust independent body to investigate thousands of “disappeared,” Human Rights Watch said Aug. 30, the UN-designated International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria has determined that the use of enforced disappearance by the Syrian regime is widespread, and may amount to a crime against humanity.

Syria

Syria: Rojava flashpoint for Russo-Turkish war?

Days after again vowing that Ankara will not tolerate a Kurdish state in Syria, Turkey beefed up artillery and tanks along the border, signaling an imminent offensive to take the Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin. This could be the start of a wider Turkish offensive—reportedly to be dubbed “Euphrates Sword”—to reduce or expunge the Kuridsh autonomous zone of Rojava and establish a Turkish “buffer zone” in Syria’s north. Ominously, Russia has meanwhile mobilized troops to Afrin, to back up the Kurdish militia that controls the enclave.

Syria

Syria: al-Qaeda taking over Idlib governorate?

Al-Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took over the city council building in Idlib, capital of the governorate of that name in northwest Syria and the biggest opposition-held city in the country. HTS has in recent weeks won control of much territory in Idlib governorate, in ongoing battles with rival factions. However, HTS continues to face resistance from local residents, with demonstrations against their rule by civil resistance activists in many areas.

Southeast Asia

Thousands of Rohingya trapped on borderlands

Burma's army has responded to supposed Rohingya guerilla attacks with a massive new operation to encircle the rebels and block their escape into Bangladesh. Troops are accused of putting villages to the torch and carrying out extrajudicial killings. More than 8,700 Rohingya have fled into Bangladesh, but at least 4,000 more are stranded in the no man's land between the two countries.

New York City

Crypto-fascists exploit anti-fascist struggle

Pseudo-left sectarian outfits in the orbit of Workers World Party, which is actually in league with international fascism, now aggressively seek to exploit the anti-fascist upsurge in the United States for purposes of party-building and spreading their toxic politics. These supporters of genocidal dictators like Bashar Assad also sat down at a Russia-hosted Euro-fascist confab with the very neo-Confederates and white nationalists they now claim to oppose. It is imperative that activists do not take their bait.

North America

Arpaio pardon: green light for rights violations

Trump's pardon of former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio is a clear signal that constitutional and human rights violations are to be rewarded, not punished, under his administration. A federal judge found Arpaio guilty of criminal contempt last month, for violating a court order in a racial profiling case. In his announcement, Trump said that "Arpaio's life and career…exemplify selfless public service."

The Andes

Ecuador: protests grip Galápagos

The Galápagos Islands have seen weeks of protest over a newly instated law that gives Ecuador's national government greater control over land use and wages on the popular tourist destination. It also gives the Environment Ministry the power to change the borders of Galápagos National Park. Locals say the law opens the way for foreign investment and private encroachment on the National Park, undermining local businesses and potentially devastating unique wildlife.